e-photo Newsle tter April, 2007 Traveling with Digital Cameras

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1 Traveling with Digital Cameras as Having just concluded some international flights, we have some guidelines to offer on traveling with your equipment. First, carry on everything you can comfortably handle and fit under the seat and in the overhead compartment. Most airlines put a size limitation on carry on, but not a weight restriction. There are several items that should not be in checked luggage for safety reasons. Lenses are made of several pieces of glass, some of which are sealed into place using balsam based cements. There have been too many incidents where sudden changes of air pressurization have caused these seals to rupture, ruining the optic. Keep lenses in the passenger compartment, not down in the hold. There is, obviously, a lens used in every camera, so the camera should be up with you too. Most cameras today use rechargeable baies and therefore require a charger. Imagine getting to your destination and discovering your charger didn t arrive... keep you charger up with you. If you have to shed some weight, put your backup baies in your checked luggage. If your charger requires a cradle, keep the cradle with you, with the A/C cord as well. Memory cards will not be damaged in your checked luggage, but logic should tell you that a) they weigh very little, b) they are very small, and c) what they record is very valuable (usually not replaceable). What could possibly be gained by stowing them below? Carry them with you. The Geneva Convention governs transportation companies limitations of liability should your property become missing. Putting expensive items in your checked luggage could make them even more expensive - you could potentially have to pay for them twice. If you are still traveling with film, including one time use cameras, DO NOT put it in your checked luggage. It WILL BE affected and probably ruined. Even in a lead or barium foil bag. Use the bag; carry it with you. One more thing: bring a copy of your sales receipt for your equipment with you on your trip. If your belongings are made missing, you ll have the serial numbers and values for the police. If your equipment is brand new, the receipts may well save you money at Customs upon your return to the U.S.A. Electronic flashguns, filters, remotes and tripods will suffer no ill effects traveling in the hold (other than theft or damage caused by a security agent clumsily repacking your suitcases). Keep in mind that a tightly packed suitcase will protect its contents be than a loosely packed one. If you are traveling with liquids in your checked luggage, keep any electronic or optical items in sealed plastic bags. 1

2 Last month, we presented to you a number of product previews that members of our staff saw at the PMA tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada. This month I will present to you initial reactions and reviews based on using the new products upon their arrival to us. I will review for you new merchandise from a number of camera and bag manufacturers. In my opinion, the camera manufacturer who had the best showing at the trade show this year was Olympus, and they really needed to do that if they wanted to maintain a presence in both the digital point and shoot, and digital SLR market. Olympus has released a new waterproof/shockproof camera which is now also crushproof! The operation of the Stylus 770SW is quick, the image quality is excellent as far as compact cameras go, and it s safe to take it to the beach, pool, and out camping with you. It s a truly rugged camera. Olympus also has two new digital SLRs that are sure to give Canon and Nikon a run for their money in the entry-level market. Both the Olympus 410 and 510 have a live-view display that allows the user to take pictures and see the action at the same time without burying their face behind the eyepiece. Some people will like this, others will not. Come in and see for yourself. Additionally, the new Olympus SLRs have superior skin-tone renditions without needing to tweak the photograph in computer software and what do most of us take pictures of? People. Camcorders are becoming more popular than ever among consumers and manufacturers are meeting that demand. However, there are a number of different (and varying qualities) of technologies that allow you to capture your motion pictures. Canon in addition moving toward the consumer-popular MiniDVD system, has also maintained the course of providing the best quality for consumers with their new high-definition MiniDV cassette camcorder. Eric s New Product Revie view 2 Instead of your video being virtually collected, compressed, and burned onto a DVD during the video-taking process, the new Canon HV20 records data onto a cassette tape via digital signal in a raw, uncompressed HD format. This will allow for the highest possible quality for video editing and DVD authoring for your archival needs. Many consumers demand the simple, no hassle of the MiniDVD camcorders, but why risk your memories to possible file corruptions? Please come in and ask for further information and demonstration on this issue. Over the past 2 ½ years we have had tremendous success with the Casio compact digital camera lineup. Simply put, they make the fastest, best constructed, and easiest to use cameras overall not to mention the image quality is unsurpassed. Casio just released the EX-V7 which is just as thin as all of their other models, but has a 7x optical zoom lens. How is this possible? The lens is an internal zoom which negates the need for a telescoping element design. The EX-V7 also has an image stabilizer which will help keep your images sharp. It is the most compact long-zoom camera. Finally I would like to share with you some new products from one of my specialty areas. I enjoy traveling, I do a lot of it, whether local or international, and I carry a lot of equipment with me. I am very meticulous in choosing the bags we carry, and I try to choose bags that will accommodate a wide variety of needs. We just received the newest line-up from an Australian bag manufacturer named Crumpler. Their backpacks are the most intelligently designed models I ve ever seen for carrying both laptop and camera equipment. Not only that, they are perfectly stitched, comfortable to wear, and are weatherproof. Most of you will also think that they are very fashionable as they come in unique shapes and

3 colors. Lastly, they do not look like camera bags, which when traveling, may not draw attention to possible thieves. These are the products that I feel most excited about coming out of this year s trade show. With each passing show we see fewer and fewer exciting products and many manufacturers exiting the market. This year was no exception, but if we look hard enough, and also know what our customers want or have the need for, we will be able to be serve you: our readers, our customers, our loyal patrons. Please come in for a demonstration on any of the cameras I talked about, and I do challenge you to stump me with a camera storage/carrying issue. I will find the right bag for you. The next 3 pages are photos from Lynne & Jerry s Australia trip and Eric s Amsterdam visit. We hope you enjoy them. Eric is also hard at work planning our next batch of B.I.P.S. photo workshops. We are attaching the Spring, 2007 schedule with this month s edition. Have a great April and enjoy taking pictures. Lynne, Bret & Jerry 3

4 (all pictures this page 2007 Lynne Harmen) 4

5 (all pictures this page 2007 Eric Kazmirek)

6 (all pictures this page 2007 Jerry Harmen)